Page 65 - Fenning_Scoland

Internal Postal Rates set by the Scottish Privy Council

1692 - Edinburgh to Glasgow 2 Shillings Rate
I

The Scottish Privy Council's Proclamation in 1689 on pbstal charges set the Edinburgh to
Glasgow rate at 2 shillings Scots for a single letter, unch~nged since 1662.

William Carstares (1649-1715), Cleric, Revolutionary and Statesman

This letter, unsigned and written in a guarded vein with warnings to the addressee to be cautious, was
written by William Carstares to his brother-in-law William Dunlop.

His father, John, a parish minister and convinced Presbyterian, had been outlawed in May 1662 for
refusing to conform to the new regime or take the oath of allegiance. William subsequently decided to
leave Scotland for Holland where he studied divinity in Utrecht and Leiden.

William Carstares became an agent for the House of Orange in 1672
using the pseudonym William Williams in his letters to the Hague. From
1675 until 1679 he was a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle having been jailed
for distributing an anti-government pamphlet. He then became one of the
Scottish conspirators planning an armed insurrection and, in 1683, was
accused of involvement in a plot to assassinate King Charles II and the
Duke of York (later to become King James II and Vil). This resulted in him
being arrested, tortured and imprisoned for a further period.

On his release, Carstares fled to Holland, becoming a close adviser to
William of Orange. When the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688-89 started,
Carstares sailed to England on William's ship and, on 5 November 1688,
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he held a service of thanksgiving for the expeditionary forces on the beach ath March 1692. Letter from London to Glasgow via Edinburgh.
at Torbay. He was instrumental in the events that led to the offer of the
English and Scottish crowns to William and Mary in 1689 and remained Rates applied:
one of William's most trusted advisers thereafter. In later life, he was
elected Moderator of the Scottish Church on four occasions. 5d Sterling London to Edinburgh per Act of the English Parliament (1660)
2s Scots Edinburgh to Gl~sgow pe! Scottish Privy Coµncil (1689)

The manuscript charge marks:
William Dunlop (1653(?) -1700), Political Activist, Colonist and University Principal
On the front are '5' and '2' charges indicating the English and Scottish rates.
The addressee of the letter was William Dunlop. In the 1660's, both of his parents suffered On the reverse is a '5<1' Edinburgh accounting mark tor the London to
imprisonment by the Scottish Privy Council on account of their sympathy with the covenanter party. Edinburgh charge and an as yet unexplained manuscript mark, possibly
another accounting mane
Before the battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679, Dunlop was responsible in part for the 'Declaration of the -
oppressed Protestants now in arms in Scotland'. His political views and opposition to Charles II led
him to live in self-imposed exile in Carolina, North America where he helped to found a settlement at
Stuart's Town. After the 'Glorious Revolution', Dunlop returned to Scotland and, in 1690, he was
inducted into the office of PrincipaJ of Glasgow University.

Reference: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography